Top Items:
Christine Hauser / New York Times:
Job Growth Falters Badly, Clouding Hope for Recovery — The United States economy added a meager 18,000 jobs in June, up from a gain of a revised 25,000 jobs in May, the Department of Labor said on Friday. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent from 9.1 percent in May, the department said.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post, Firedoglake, ABCNEWS, The Nation, New Deal 2.0, Booman Tribune, Freakonomics, Calculated Risk, Washington Post, Economix, Speaker, Free exchange, AmSpecBlog, JustOneMinute, Oliver Willis, Gothamist, Economist's View, Lynn Sweet, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, Daily Kos, Shakesville, Truthdig, ThinkProgress, Emptywheel, AMERICAblog News, FrumForum and Lawyers, Guns & Money
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CNBC:
Jobs Picture Gets Even Worse as Rate Swells to 9.2% — U.S. employment growth ground to a halt in June, with employers hiring the fewest number of workers in nine months, dampening hopes the economy was on the cusp of regaining momentum after stumbling in recent months.
Ian Swanson / The Hill:
Top Obama adviser says unemployment won't be key in 2012 — President Obama's senior political adviser David Plouffe said Wednesday that people won't vote in 2012 based on the unemployment rate. — Plouffe should probably hope that's the case, since dismal job figures aren't expected …
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, The Note, The Hill, And So it Goes in Shreveport, AMERICAblog News, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Scared Monkeys, Pajamas Media, Outside the Beltway, NetRight Daily, The Western Experience, GOP 12, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Lonely Conservative, americanthinker.com, msnbc.com and FrumForum
Shobhana Chandra / Bloomberg:
U.S. Payrolls Rise 18,000; Jobless Rate Climbs to 9.2% — U.S. employers added 18,000 workers in June, the fewest in nine months, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed, indicating a struggling labor market. — The increase in payrolls followed a 25,000 gain that was less than half …
Austan Goolsbee / White House.gov Blog:
The Employment Situation in June — Today's employment report shows that private sector payrolls increased by 57,000 in June and the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.2 percent. While the private sector has added 2.2 million jobs over the past 16 months, this month's report reflects …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, USA Today, Iowa Caucuses and Political Punch
The Politico:
Obama: ‘A long way to go’ — President Barack Obama acknowledged …
Obama: ‘A long way to go’ — President Barack Obama acknowledged …
Discussion:
The Note, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, CNN and Don Surber
Maggie Haberman / The Politico:
Mitt Romney on jobless numbers: ‘Fire Plouffe’
Mitt Romney on jobless numbers: ‘Fire Plouffe’
Discussion:
New York Magazine and Bloomberg
Judd Legum / ThinkProgress:
BREAKING: Bachmann pledges to ban pornography — Tonight, Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge created by THE FAMiLY LEADER, an influential social-conservative group in Iowa. By signing the pledge Bachmann “vows” to “uphold the institution of marriage …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Mediaite, Pharyngula, Liberal Values, Pirate's Cove, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Alas, a Blog, Booman Tribune and Towleroad News #gay
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William Petroski / Iowa Caucuses:
Bachmann is first to sign Family Leader's pro-marriage pledge — The Family Leader, a prominent Iowa group that promotes Christian conservative social values, said Thursday it is asking all presidential candidates to sign a pledge regarding their personal convictions on traditional marriage.
Jeff Zeleny / New York Times:
Will Republican Race's First In Be the First Out? — AMES, Iowa — Tim Pawlenty was first in line to enter the Republican presidential race. He is now fighting to avoid becoming the earliest major candidate to be shown the door. — No contender for the Republican nomination has followed …
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John Whitesides / Reuters:
Texas Governor Perry likely to run in 2012
Texas Governor Perry likely to run in 2012
Discussion:
NationalJournal.com and Texas on the Potomac
Jennifer Jacobs / Iowa Caucuses:
Pawlenty says he just started earnest campaigning in Iowa this week
Pawlenty says he just started earnest campaigning in Iowa this week
Discussion:
Washington Wire, msnbc.com, GOP 12, Hotline On Call and FrumForum
New York Times:
Negotiating on a Knife's Edge — Every fresh report of “progress” on the debt-ceiling talks produces new reasons to feel profoundly uneasy. The talks were misbegotten from the beginning, made necessary only by the irresponsible refusal of Republicans to pay the nation's bills unless …
Discussion:
Firedoglake, JustOneMinute, Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight, NewsBusters.org and Brendan Nyhan
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Laurence H. Tribe / New York Times:
A Ceiling We Can't Wish Away
A Ceiling We Can't Wish Away
Discussion:
Balkinization, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Althouse, The Atlantic Online, The Hill and Washington Post
John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Say No To the Dems' July Surprise
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
What Obama Wants — On Thursday, President Obama met with Republicans to discuss a debt deal. We don't know exactly what was proposed, but news reports before the meeting suggested that Mr. Obama is offering huge spending cuts, possibly including cuts to Social Security and an end …
Alex Seitz-Wald / ThinkProgress:
Bachmann: ‘I Hope’ Higher Unemployment Will Help My Campaign — Appearing on CNBC this morning, presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was asked about this morning's dismal jobs report and whether higher unemployment rates might help her chances of winning in 2012.
Discussion:
Daily Kos
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CNNMoney.com:
June jobs report: Hiring slows, unemployment rises
June jobs report: Hiring slows, unemployment rises
Discussion:
CNN, Fortune and Pajamas Media
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
It's not too late to change priorities — In a statement this morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus blamed rising unemployment on “out-of-control spending.” — Perhaps now would be a good time for reasonable political observers to call this what it is: dangerously stupid.
Discussion:
Salon and PR Newswire
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Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
Private-sector job creation deteriorating, too
Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:
CHART: Over 500,000 Government Jobs Lost Since Obama's Inauguration
CHART: Over 500,000 Government Jobs Lost Since Obama's Inauguration
Discussion:
Rortybomb
Matthew Hendley / The Daily Pulp:
TSA Agent Caught With Passenger's iPad in His Pants; Allegedly Took $50,000 in Other Goods, Cops Say — While most Transportation Security Administration employees are busy groping people or taking naked pictures of them, the cops say one of those employees was putting fliers' electronics down his pants.
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers, JONATHAN TURLEY, Hit & Run, Pajamas Media and The Lonely Conservative
KochFacts.com:
Letter to Senator Patty Murray, Chair Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — Dear Senator Murray: — For many months now, your colleagues in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee leadership have engaged in a series of disparagements …
Discussion:
Ben Smith's Blog, Washington Post, Hot Air, New York Magazine, RedState, Big Government, Wonkette, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Nice Deb, TPMDC, Weasel Zippers, American Glob, The Lonely Conservative, Sister Toldjah, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Pajamas Media, Taegan Goddard's … and GayPatriot
Dave Mosher / Wired Science:
The Last Space Shuttle Launches Safely Into Orbit — CAPE CANAVERAL — The last mission in NASA's decades-long space shuttle program is now underway. — Atlantis rocketed into orbit today at 11:29 a.m. EDT and is flying at 17,500 mph around the Earth. The mission, STS-135 …
Discussion:
Washington Post, GigaOM and Towleroad News #gay
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The Note:
House Members Spar Over Role of Social Security in Debt Ceiling Negotiation — ABC News' Arlette Saenz (@arlettesaenz) reports: — In a hearing addressing the long term solvency of Social Security, members of a House Ways and Means subcommittee battled over whether or not reforms …
Discussion:
Say Anything
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Brian Beutler / TPMDC:
What's In A Name? Dems Support Social Security Benefit Cut — By Calling It Something Else
What's In A Name? Dems Support Social Security Benefit Cut — By Calling It Something Else
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos and Eschaton
Paul Krugman:
Falling Wages — Ugh. That was a seriously ugly jobs report (pdf). Almost no job creation, with slow private-sector growth offset by falling public-sector employment; a falling employment-population ratio; and (I don't know how many people have picked this up), an actual decline in wages, albeit a small one.
Discussion:
MarketBeat and Grasping Reality …
Rose Garden / The White House:
Remarks by the President on the Monthly Jobs Report — THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. Obviously, over the last couple of days, the debate here in Washington has been dominated by issues of debt limit, but what matters most to Americans, and what matters most to me as President …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Center for American Progress, Jared Bernstein and The Gateway Pundit
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Mexican Citizen Is Executed as Justices Refuse to Step In — WASHINGTON — In a 5-to-4 decision that split along ideological lines, the Supreme Court on Thursday evening rebuffed a request from the Obama administration that it stay the execution of a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas.
Discussion:
UNCOVERAGE.net, Outside the Beltway, TPMDC, Ricochet Conversation Feed, Truthdig, FrumForum and Fox News
Confederate Yankee:
It's a Trap! — I've seen several claims in the past 24 hours that “prove” that Attorney General Eric Holder, or Congress, or the President, or the Pope, knew about Gunwalker/Fast and Furious because of a speech someone made, or because of legislation being proposed or because of a line item in the Stimulus bill.
Discussion:
Fausta's Blog
Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
Obama To Unveil Gun Control Reforms In Near Future … WASHINGTON — Half a year after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the Obama administration is set to release a series of reforms to the current gun law, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday.
Discussion:
Pajamas Media, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and FrumForum
Darren Samuelsohn / The Politico:
Jon Huntsman picks Bush official as policy chief — Jon Huntsman has tapped a former George W. Bush environmental official as his presidential campaign's top policy director. — Mark McIntosh will split his time between Huntsman's Orlando headquarters and the GOP policy world …
Discussion:
FrumForum
Carl Hulse / New York Times:
Boehner Sees Little Chance of Quick Deficit Deal — WASHINGTON — The Speaker of the House, John A. Boehner, said on Friday that no budget deal with President Obama and Congressional Democrats was imminent, while Mr. Obama also acknowledged “real differences” as the leaders prepared for a weekend of further talks.
Discussion:
FrumForum
The Daily Beast:
Why ‘Obamacare’ May Live — The once-fervent Republican effort to repeal Obama's signature legislation is running out of gas. Jill Lawrence on why the GOP's top target may survive intact. — What happened to the health-care frenzy that turned town-hall meetings into fiery …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress